In less than 5 weeks and after years of preparation, the long-awaited Pan Am Games will begin, but sadly Toronto has missed a huge opportunity to leverage event retailing. In an era when product simply doesn’t sell itself and experiences reign supreme, successful retailers across sectors have been ramping up their efforts, like never before, to engage customers. Yet, Toronto’s Pan Am shop at the Eaton Centre disappoints. Event retailing Event retailing, more than a peripheral courtesy, is a very real revenue stream, directly and indirectly. Like off-site team shops, event linked retail is more than an opportunity to dabble[…]
YNOT Cycle: More than mass customization
Mass customization remains one of the prominent buzz words in the retail industry. For retailers, responding to customers’ wants with customized products at reasonable prices, has become paramount in engaging customers and building a loyal following. What local on-line and now bricks-and-mortar retailer, YNOT Cycle delivers, is more than mass customization. They deliver customized hand-crafted products, made locally – and with a bricks-and-mortar store that speaks to the very essence of that offering. The era of mass customization Across retail sectors, from M & M’s personalized candies to the Nike ID program, mass customization is just one more tool in a[…]
Spacing; Selling city pride
Late last year, Spacing, the magazine that focuses on urban issues, and Toronto’s concerns in particular, opened their first bricks-and-mortar retail location on Richmond St West. Beyond the obvious, being a publisher turned retailer – a significant brand extension venture in itself – Spacing is fueling Torontonians newly found city pride. Expanding their reach With the opening of the store, which features urban and city related products previously available primarily through their on-line store, Spacing has tread into relatively new and untested territory. Few magazines have made this necessary leap to extend their brand and their reach. In our digital world,[…]
Best products at IIDEX for retail applications
Typically exhibitors at the IIDEX Canada industry trade show, which took place last week, are geared towards commercial sectors other than retail; but that doesn’t mean that the show is short of interesting new products suited to retail applications. Here are 3 of the best from this year’s show: 1. Luminous Textile with Kvadrat Soft Cells [Philips] This intriguing product, awarded Bronze Innovation Award in the category of Innovative Lighting, is a Luminous Textile fabric panel lit with integrated LEDs. It’s a completely customizable modular product available in a variety of colours and ready for whatever content you wish[…]
Making retail personal
Retail should be personal. To be successful, a retail brand needs to make retail personal by connecting personally with each and every customer. Regardless of the retail channel – bricks & mortar, mobile or on-line – a brand’s personality and actions must speak to each customer in such a way as to tap into his or her secret desires and aspirations. When retailers occupy a niche market, where a bricks & mortar presence may not be feasible, and their chosen retail channel is on-line, making that connection can be difficult. There is no physical environment to engage and experience, no[…]
Retail is alive and well
Retail is a living breathing thing that is constantly reinventing itself, morphing to meet the needs of an increasingly savvy consumer; a consumer that has now become a collaborator rather than a mere customer. From Harry Selfridge in the early days of the 20th century who transformed shopping from a menial chore into an engaging social activity, open to all classes, to Steve Jobs who has redefined the customer experience, creating a tribe of Apple brand advocates, retail is in a constant state of change. At its heart, successful retail, through all of the changes, has always been about emotionally[…]